Succession Dynamics

This book presents a rigorous, historically grounded analysis of the mechanisms that sustain brand formation, successor development, and transgenerational entrepreneurship in Japanese long-established family firms. Through an in-depth, multi-method case study of YAMAMOTO-NORITEN a seven-generation, 175-year-old seaweed company in Nihonbashi it fills a major gap in family business research, where longitudinal, empirically documented studies of individual firms remain rare.

The book contributes three major scholarly advancements. First, it offers a detailed account of how legacy brands emerge as accumulations of intangible assets, socio-emotional wealth, symbolic capital, and embedded family narratives. Second, it advances the concept of successor legitimacy by integrating Weberian traditional authority, Linton s status theory, and contemporary legitimacy research, arguing that successors must navigate a constraint autonomy dilemma. Third, it proposes a model of the legacy accumulative chain, demonstrating how innovations and inherited resources interact across generations in a long-term, path-dependent process.

The work targets practitioners, scholars, and graduate students in family business, entrepreneurship, Japanese management, organizational theory, and socio-economic history. It provides a robust empirical foundation through company documents, genealogies, and extensive oral histories, illustrating how intangible assets and institutional embeddedness shape continuity and competitive advantage. Overall, the book offers a theoretically innovative and empirically rich contribution to global family business scholarship.